ThmIndxrTM Command Line Usage Instructions

ThmIndxrTM is run from the command prompt in
a DOS window. The chart below lists the command line parameters that can be
used when running the program. Note that, as a minimum, you must supply a
title string for your HTML page, either with the -ttl command line
switch, or with a Title String
entry in a command file. The command file
can either be identified with the -cmd switch or through a
Command File entry in a
configuration file specified with the
-cfg switch.

Command line switches may be indicated using either the "-switch" form
or "/switch" form. When two or more command line switches start with
the same character(s), you must enter enough letters to differentiate which
switch you are using, e.g., "-cf" is sufficient to specify the name of
a configuration file, whereas "-c" could either be a configuration or
a command file, and is ignored. Entering longer strings (as a mnemonic aid)
such as "/trace" rather than "-tra" won't confuse the program.
Command line switches are not case sensitive; however, some operating systems
are sensitive with respect to file names, so caution is advised.

Usage: ThmIndxr [option [option [...]]]

where 'option' is one of the options in the list below:

-h

help display, supresses all other operations

-ttl

title string, '-ttl="HTML Page Title String"'
If your title string contains more than one word (as is usually the case),
the title must be enclosed in "" quotation marks, or the operating system
won't know to pass the whole string to ThmIndxrTM
as a single parameter.
This switch performs the same function as the
Title String entry in a
Command File.

-cfg

configuration file, "-cfg=[path]filename"
If the configuration file specification does not include any path information
(drive letter or directory names) and the specified file cannot be found in
the current directory, ThmIndxrTM looks for it
in the directory where the program is executing from (the location that
contains the ThmIndxr.EXE file).

"verbose" mode, extra information output during the run
This switch performs the same function as the
Verbose entry in a
Configuration File.

Environment variables

ThmIndxrTM uses environment parameters it
recognizes as the first level in setting default operating modes. Command
line parameters will override any conflicting environment settings and are,
in turn, overridden by Configuration File
and Command File settings. Thus, in the
chain of control determining ThmIndxrTM's actual
operating mode, the Command File has the
"last word" about parameters it controls.

ThmIndxrTM will use the following
environment variables (refer to the list above for
descriptions and parameter formats):

ThmIndxr

configuration file

ThumbCmd

command file

ThumbLog

log file

ThumbTrace

trace level

OUTNAME

output filename

VERBOSE

verbose mode

Default operation

As a minimum, ThmIndxrTM requires a title
string for the HTML page it will create, specified either with a "-ttl"
command line switch, or in a command file.

If ThmIndxrTM is run with no other command line
parameters or environment variables it recognizes, its default operation is:

JPG and GIF images are indexed from the current
directory

thumbnail images are written to a "thumbs" subdirectory,
which is created, if necessary

LOWSRC (low-resolution) images are written to a "lowsrc"
subdirectory, which is created, if necessary

output is written to out01_01.htm in the current directory

operation is logged to log01_01.txt in the current directory

unspecified strings are not used in the HTML file

the program banner is displayed

no configuration or command files are used

minimal user interaction is needed to run the program

trace events are logged to level 2

NOTE: The default file names for the output files are built from
ThmIndxr's version number, and may be different from the ones shown above.

Usage examples

ThmIndxr
-l=/q-o=MyPage.html-ttl="My Page"
no log file created
nothing written to the screen unless existing files are found
output is written to MyPage.html in the current directory
the HTML page title is "My Page"

ThmIndxr
-v-tra=6-d=g:-ttl="Nutso Page"
maximum run-time information displayed
an insane level of detail is written to the log file
current directory on drive G: is processed
the HTML page title is "Nutso Page"

ThmIndxr
/l=c:\indexer\thumb.log/cfg=c:\indexer\thumb.cfg
log file at c:\indexer\thumb.log appended by each program run
configuration is read from c:\indexer\thumb.cfg
the title string must be read from a command file referenced in
the c:\indexer\thumb.cfg configuration file